Legend Fighting Championship

Now that Art Of War FC has a healthy following in China, Hong Kong hosted the first Legend Fighting Championship event this January, a tournament that pits 18 top fighters from the Asia-Pacific region against each other in nine bouts.

Adrian Pang, the Australian fighter who fought in the main event studied Tong Long Kung Fu, which he considers to be his main martial art background:

Adrian Pang’s Kung Fu Roots

4th January 2010
Although Adrian Pang competes in the modern contact sport of MMA, his training roots lie in Kung Fu, a martial art that traces its history back thousands of years. Pang began his formal martial arts training in Tae Kwon Do and Judo at age 9, but it wasn’t until he discovered Tong Long Kung Fu that he felt he had found his true martial arts calling. Now, those fundamental skills will be on display as Pang steps into the Legend ring for Hong Kong’s inaugural MMA competition on January 11.

“Training in Kung Fu was something I had always wanted to do as a kid, but I never found the correct system for me. This was until I discovered Tong Long. I immediately knew it was effective, and it suited my body type,” commented Pang.

Pang’s commitment to Kung Fu brought him to Hong Kong, where he underwent intense training in Chow Gar Tong Long. “It was a great honor to have the opportunity to train in Kung Fu in Hong Kong and to stay in the house of Si Gung Ip Shui in Kowloon. We studied every day and trained many times at the school in Mongkok. It was inspiring to train early mornings on the rooftops over Kowloon, and to have the opportunity to meet other Kung Fu masters.”

Pang studied Tong Long Kung Fu for almost ten years before he began his MMA training. Asked about making the transition, Pang responded, “When I began to learn MMA, I had to ‘empty my cup’ in order to absorb all the new information truthfully. As my fighting career progressed, I was then able to incorporate more Kung Fu into my MMA. A lot of Kung Fu principles are very similar to the principles of wrestling and Brazilian Jiujitsu, so it’s just a matter of developing a feeling for when it’s a good time to utilize each technique.”